Iraq bomb kills two US soliders, Red Cross pulls out

11.30pm

BAGHDAD/GENEVA - Two soldiers from the US 82nd Airborne Division were killed and one was wounded on Saturday when a roadside bomb was detonated next to their convoy in the volatile town of Falluja west of Baghdad, the US Army said.

The attack raised to at least 149 the number of US soldiers killed in action in Iraq since Washington declared major combat over on May 1.

Today the International Committee of the Red Cross decided to shut its offices in the Iraqi capital Baghdad and the southern city of Basra due to concerns over its staff's safety.

"We are temporarily closing our offices in Baghdad and Basra. We are still discussing what to do with our foreign staff. The situation is extremely dangerous and volatile," ICRC spokesman Florian Westphal said.

He was confirming a report by Zurich's Tages-Anzeiger newspaper, which quoted ICRC President Jacob Kellenberger as saying that the group had decided not to operate in Iraq under military protection, which he said was irreconcilable with its concept of independent humanitarian action.

This meant shutting the Baghdad and Basra offices for the time being.

"But we will remain present in northern Iraq. Our future activity will focus on visiting prisoners, re-establishing family contacts and providing emergency aid in the areas of water and medicine," he said.

A car bombing at the Red Cross headquarters in Baghdad last month killed 12 people and shocked the foreign aid community, stirring concerns about whether US-led coalition forces can bring order to the country.

The attack was the bloodiest on an international organisation since a massive truck bomb devastated the UN's headquarters in the capital on August 19, killing 22 people, including Sergio Vieira de Mello, the top UN envoy to Iraq.

The car bombing was the first the ICRC had suffered in its 140-year history and prompted it to reduce international staff. The Red Cross has been in Iraq continuously since 1980 through three wars.


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